The Holy Spirit Fire

The Holy Spirit Fire
The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor; he hath sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised, ( Luke 4:18)

Friday, March 2, 2007

MY LOVE FOR GOD

I love Him because He first loved me and has blessed me with all spiritual blessing. (1 John 4:19)

He has been my strength in times of trouble. (Psa. 28:7)

When I was low and without any strength, He lifted me up and carried me. (Psa. 30:1)

As I lay restless at night and deeply troubled, He tells me to lie down and sleep for he is with me.(Psa. 4:8)

In my fear, He asks me to stare down the giants and call upon His name to bring the victory. (1 Sam. 17:44-47)

When the future seems unclear and I don’t know what to do, He tells me that He has already walked out my steps. (Psa. 37:23)

When I am without peace He tells me that he gives peace that goes beyond all of my understanding. ( Phil. 4:7)

When I am without and wondering where the provision for my life will come, He tells me he will supply all of my needs. ( Phil. 4:19)

If am ashamed of Him, He will be ashamed of me. (Mark 8:38)

If I try to do His will in my own power, I will fail him. ( Hab. 1:11)

I don’t often have a ready answer to what the Lord is doing in my life. But this one thing I do know, that with all that I am, I will worship Him and follow Him to whom I owe all of my existence. I love the Lord so much that the words that I come up with are feeble at best. There are no words here on the earth that can adequately express the love in my heart. I often catch myself lately and think, have I given him all that I have to give. I may never be a success in this world with all of its rewards. When people look at me they may not see the most dashing or handsome man. I may not have the fanciest clothes or the nicest car but what does that really afford us. Can we take it with us to our grave? Will our fancy clothes stand the test of time buried under the earth? Will our looks serve us when we are so old that we can no longer care for our own selves? Is there anything in this world that we can attain able to follow us in eternity?
There is a greater value and purpose for our lives. We need to look inwardly and test the spirits to see if we are following after God with all that we have. Life is not meant to be lived for our selves once we have know Jesus Christ as Savior. There is a greater purpose, look to those around you. Many don’t know Jesus and are dying in their sins every day. We walk around so embroiled with our own lives that we fail to see the wounded all around us. I ask myself have I done all that I can to help them? Have I exhausted myself to lead another to Jesus Christ? I have lived for many years and not given Him all that is due Him. I have missed many opportunities in my life and have regretted not doing more.
The scripture says that,

I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.”(John 14:6)

Are we telling others about Jesus?
Are we giving others the word of truth?
Are we caring for others enough to give them the word?

I regret that I have not always cared enough for others to give them the witness of Jesus. This has brought tears to my eyes as I look back on people that needed to hear about Jesus and are gone now. They will never have that opportunity to hear from His word all that He did for them. Today they are tormented in their sins and have no hope. These are the ones whose blood is on my hands. I have repented to God for these and asked him to wash me clean. I long to serve Him with all of my life. There is no way for me to live any other way. I don’t want to be one of those that go skipping into heaven only to fall down in shame as the Lord reveals all of their missed opportunities. No, I want to go into heaven limping, bruised and torn from the battle. I long to stand before God one day knowing that I gave Him all that I have for his sake. I am willing to deny myself in any way that I have to. I care not for the things of this world. I am tired of the pursuit of these temporal things. I am weary of keeping up with what the society says we have to be. I desire to know God and him alone. The Lord is my shepherd and I shall not want. If I run after him with all of my being I know and trust that He will bless my life and that of my family. I have never felt this strongly about the things of God before. I know that it is not me but that my Lord has gotten a hold of my heart and is calling me to greater heights in His name. He has given me power to follow Him. He has filled my with the love of Jesus. He has given me a vision to reach out to all those that are in need of Him and the salvation that he brings.
His voice has called out to me as he did Isaiah,

Then I heard the voice of the Lord saying, Whom shall I send? And who will go for us? And I said, Here am I. Send me (Isa. 6:8)

I am ready to be used of Him for His purposes. I don’t care for the creature comforts but rather to do the will of God. This is radical in the eyes of many that are not of full understanding, however it is nothing more that our reasonable service. I will continue to seek the face of my God. I will call unto him with all of my heart and express the desire of my heart for Him, and Him alone. My glory is to glory him and I seek to follow Him and I know that he will provide all that I need in order to accomplish his will.

There is a battle raging that we cannot see because it is separated by a veil of Glory. God has called us to all be a soldier in this battle. There is a danger in being involved in it and there are many who fear getting into it. Jesus told us that when we follow him we will be hated for his name sake. This is why we need to daily put on our armor and be ready to be involved in the battle. We can choose however, to stay away from the danger of battle and sit on the sidelines. But let me shoot straight on this point, those that sit on the sidelines will never be promoted. They will never be recognized by God. Sure many will receive praise from their peers on this world but at what cost. Do we expect God to care about what we accomplished in this world? I tell you he could care less. All of the things of this world are as wood, hay and stubble. It will all burn up and be blown away by the wind.

“Now if any man build upon this foundation gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, stubble; Every man's work shall be made manifest: for the day shall declare it, because it shall be revealed by fire; and the fire shall try every man's work of what sort it is. If any man's work abide which he hath built thereupon, he shall receive a reward. If any man's work shall be burned, he shall suffer loss: but he himself shall be saved; yet so as by fire.” (1 Cor. 3:12-15)

What have we done for Jesus? Did we care more for our own selves and left not time for Him? He died for me and you so that we could be spared the eternal punishment. Have we given Him our all? Have we gladly been spent for Jesus?

“And I will very gladly spend and be spent for you; though the more abundantly I love you, the less I be loved.” (2 Cor. 12:15)

We need to love as Christ loved us. Please let us love people into the kingdom, there is nothing greater in all of the world that we can do.

“A new commandment I give unto you, That ye love one another; as I have loved you, that ye also love one another.” (John 13:34)

~In Christ name~

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